Trump’s Jewish confidant named representative for international negotiations
Jason Greenblatt, who supports the two-state solution but believes settlements are not an obstacle to peace, will begin travelling between Jerusalem and Ramallah shortly after the new president’s inauguration on January 20 in a bid to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
At some point, a correspondent for influential Jewish magazine The Forward asked Trump which definition he preferred to use when talking about the territories east of the Green Line, “West Bank” or “Judea and Samaria”? Trump seemed baffled by the question. He gestured to Greenblatt and said, “Jason, how would you respond to that?”
When he was later asked if he had an advisor on Israel and Jewish affairs, he unhesitatingly pointed his finger at his lawyer and confidant and said: “He’s the advisor.” That was how Greenblatt became the Republican presidential hopeful’s advisor on matters related to Jews and Israel.
This past weekend, he was appointed as the president-elect’s special representative for international negotiations, with a focus on Israel-Palestinian peace talks, trade agreements and the diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba.
After the appointment was made public, Greenblatt said in a statement: “My philosophy, in both business and in life, is that bringing people together and working to unite, rather than to divide, is the strongest path to success. I truly believe that this approach is one that can yield results for the United States in matters all over the world."
Greenblatt was born in 1967 and grew up in Queens, New York City. After graduating from Yeshiva University, he studied law and started a cappuccino coffee company with pod machines at airports, but the initiative failed due to the rise of Starbucks.
He resumed his career as a lawyer, working in a well-known New York company specializing in real estate. He began working for Trump in 1997 and became executive vice president and chief legal officer to the business mogul and the Trump Organization. He has written three travel books, one of them about a family trip to Israel. He visits Israel several times a year with his own family. His wife is a psychiatrist and they have six children.
During the campaign, Trump had another advisor on Israel and Jewish affairs, attorney David Friedman, who has recently been appointed US ambassador to Israel, subject to Congress approval. The two worked in coordination with Jared Kushner, Trump’s Jewish son-in-law. Friedman escorted Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, in her conversion process and even traveled with her to Israel a few years ago in a bid to buy a hotel in Tel Aviv that would be given the name Trump. The deal did not materialize after all.
Greenblatt said several times during the campaign that he was in favor of the two-state solution, but that the solution should be reached through negotiations between the two sides rather than be forced by the United Nations or any other international element. In the same breath, he said that the settlements were not an obstacle to peace.
In his new position, Greenblatt is expected to travel between Jerusalem and Ramallah in an attempt to find a way to restart the negotiations, which are currently nowhere on the horizon, but he plans to put a lot of effort into that mission and start working shortly after Trump’s inauguration on January 20.